cangradstudent

If they are funding 10% of PDF applicants again then you basically have to be within the top 2 applicants in your field. I know someone with many publications, including a paper in Science, that did not receive a PDF for the last two years (now his eligibility is done). In other words, try not to be too disappointed when you get the PDF results. It is a bit like winning the lottery...

Interesting article on the budget and funding for science: http://www.nature.com/news/canadian-budget-hits-basic-science-1.10366

No, if you download the full version of the budget you will see the cuts I am talking about. The entire PDF can be obtained here: http://www.budget.gc.ca/2012/plan/toc-tdm-eng.html Search "Natural Sciences" and you will see in Table A1.13 "Planned Savings—Industry Portfolio" that they are planning on "saving" 15 million this year and 30 million the next two years from NSERC. This might not mean any cuts to scholarships and fellowships, but the money will have to come from somewhere.

If you search through the budget you will notice they are planning "savings" of 15 million this year and 30 million the next two years from NSERC. I think this means there will be some cuts. They are shifting the money to industry friendly research areas (the new funding talked about above). I don't think this is good news for those of us that are not doing applied research.

Thanks dhanson, I didn't know they gave a specific notification date. If anyone is interested you can find that information here: http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Students-Etudiants/StudentDeadlines-EtudiantDatelimites_eng.asp